Tuesday 8 April 2014

Zarnuji Notes

Piety for the Student

Part of piety is to refrain from eating excessively, sleeping excessively, and speaking excessively in non-beneficial matters. If possible, abstain from eating the food of the market places because such food contains impurities, distances one from the remembrance of Allah, and is more likely to cause negligence. Also, the sight of the poor falls upon it while they are unable to purchase it. This causes them distress, as a result of which its blessing decreases.

[...]

An ascetic jurist advised a student, "Abstain from backbiting and do not sit with people who gossip. Whoever speaks a lot will steal the years of your life and he will waste your time."

Piety is to keep away from the people of transgression, sin and idleness. Keep the company of the pious as this is very effective. Sit facing the qibla, and follow the sunna of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him). Value the supplication of the pious people and protect yourself from the prayer of the oppressed.
 
It has been narrated that two men went out in search of knowledge. They were colleagues and returned after several years to their hometown. One had mastered jurisprudence, while the other was bereft of knowledge. This made the scholars of the town ponder over their condition and they began enquiring about their conditions, their revision of lessons, and their sitting down to study. They were informed that the student who became a jurist used to revise his lessons facing the qibla, while the other student would sit with his back to the qibla, facing some other city. The scholars unanimously agreed that the one who became a jurist did so due to the blessing of facing the qibla as this is the sunna method of sitting except at the time of necessity.

[...]

The student should always carry a notebook with him in order to continue studying. It has been said that the one who does not have a notebook in his pocket will not receive wisdom in his heart. He should keep a blank notebook and a pen in order to note down whatever he hears from scholars.

(Imam Zarnuji's Manual, translated by Ebrahim Muhammad)

No comments:

Post a Comment